Hawaii Vacation Rental Travel Blog

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New Direct Flight from Portland to Maui

Will more competition mean more affordable flights to and from Maui?August 14, 2009

New Direct Alaska Airlines Flight from Portland to Maui

As of July 3rd, a convenient new flight via Alaska Airlines is taking passengers direct from Portland, Oregon to Maui, Hawaii. Alaska offered three flights weekly at first, but as of August 7th, service will expand to daily flights.

This development has intensified the Hawaiian Air/Alaskan Air rivalry, to be sure, as Hawaiian was the only nonstop carrier from Portland until Alaska initiated their new service.

For visitors to the islands, this development means more competitive prices between carriers, so flights should become more affordable. This is something that travel agencies have expressed some excitement over, both in Oregon and on Maui. The more affordable airfare becomes, the more likely visitors will be able to enjoy a trip out here.

Alaska Air's decision to offer service to the islands was considered to be a big move on their part to enter the Hawaii market. Flights only began in October of 2007, but Alaska will have 59 flights per week travelling between the Hawaiian islands and the mainland as of this fall.

Since tourism has slowed with the recent difficulties in the economy, tourism specialists expect Alaska's new service to help improve conditions. With the tourism slowdown came cutbacks to flights over the past couple of years. This allowed the surviving airlines servicing the islands to actually fill more of their seats. The load factor of airlines flying to and from Hawaii was about 85.4 percent through May this year, but 84.2 percent for the same period during 2008.

For now, we can only wait and observe the changes one day at a time. Hopefully flights will become steadily more affordable.